Troublesome 'devil birds' spread across U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO — In Houston, they tried air cannons so loud neighbors called in the SWAT team. In New Mexico, it took a half-dozen men and thousands of explosives. In Austin, technicians go out night after night with heavy-duty lasers. All to battle an 8-ounce, highly adaptive bird that's colonizing the country -- and leaving behind inch-thick layers of droppings as it goes.

(right) A male great-tailed grackle in Duncanville, Texas. / David J. Ringer / National Audubon Society

The great-tailed grackle, called by some the devil bird, is lovely to look at. Males are jet-black with a violet-blue iridescent sheen to their feathers that made them prized by Aztec kings in their original range in Central America. But while they once were seen only in the most southern tip of Texas, today they're in 23 states, as far north as Montana and as far west as Washington.

That might make them nice for bird watchers. But for residents of areas they colonize, not so much. Grackles tend to congregate in large flocks and like shopping centers and fast-food store parking lots, where there's trash for food and trees or light posts for perching. Their droppings can spread disease, and they can damage citrus crops.

They're also known for their annoying, almost mechanical call that begins at dawn and dusk. Add to that their frequent attacks on other birds, and they're simply not good neighbors.

"They're an unstoppable machine," said Alan Clark, a bird biologist at Fordham University in New York City. "They're really hard to scare, they're hard to kill and they're in such huge groups that even poison isn't particularly effective."

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'Devil birds' moving in at Lake Merced

A gang of cantankerous flying aliens known to some avian aficionados as "devil birds" have been spotted flitting around San Francisco's Lake Merced acting like they belong.

The crow-sized creatures, which ornithologists know as great-tailed grackles, are native to Latin America and the southern United States, but the aggressive birds have recently been moving west, gobbling up the eggs of other birds and threatening to make a nuisance of themselves.

As many as six males and two females have been seen at Lake Merced, the largest concentration of the species ever recorded in San Francisco, according to the experts.

"They are often vilified as devil birds," said David Cruz, a local photographer and founder of Natures Lantern, a local nature photo and video sharing site. "It is a unique bird that many San Francisco residents have yet to see."

The birds, known scientifically as Quiscalus mexicanus, have in recent decades expanded their range from Texas and parts south of there to Northern California, most likely because of human-caused changes in their habitat. The first sighting in California was along the Colorado River in 1964. The birds have since colonized much of urban Southern California and parts of the San Joaquin Valley.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Devil-birds-moving-in-at-Lake-Merced-4065870.php#ixzz2DK6TziSO